Love's not easy
by SimplyReBECca
Summary: A continuation of Joey&Alice's scene in the caf, let me know if you like it or want me to write more :)
1. Chapter 1

"Maybe you should go see her again Joey" Alice suggested.

"I don't know Al; I think she just wants to hide away. If she wants me, she can come find me." Joey replied. "Gosh, you're so stubborn. Love's not easy Joey." Joey went to interrupt but Alice stopped him "It's not easy. Especially not if you fall in love with your cousin" the siblings shared a smile.

"But you have to fight for it Joey. She's worth fighting for. Isn't she?" Joey nodded. Maybe his sister was right; when they split up she tried everything possible to get him to change his mind, maybe now it's his turn. He didn't know what he was supposed to do though.

"Earth to Joey." Alice called, he looked up. "Call the house phone. Someone's bound to answer, & make her talk to you" Joey nodded and pulled his phone out.

"Abs?"

"Joey, hi! What's up? Do you want Lauren?" Abi was talking a mile a minute, and was already calling out for Lauren. Joey smirked, knowing Abi wouldn't stop calling her until Lauren came.

"Lauuuuuuuuuren. Lauren. Lauuuuuuuuuren. Joey's on the phone. Lauuuuuuuuuren. Come on. Lauuuuuuuren. You aren't even that drunk, so that's not an excuse. Lauuuuuuuuuren." Was what the siblings could hear down the phone. "Drunk?" Alice mouthed to Joey; he rolled his eyes but just shrugged. Now why didn't that surprise him.

He could hear his Uncle Max talking to Abi "Abs, stop the screeching please. She's having a shower. Tell Joey to come over if he wants to see her, bring Alice too. Be less of a thing then, yeah"

Abi went to tell Joey what her Dad had said but Joey replied first "heard him Abi. We'll be over in a few." They exchanged goodbyes and Alice questioned Joey "Drunk? Thought she was hiding?"

"She was. At the bottom of her glass of vodka as usual" Joey wasn't happy, but started to defend Lauren once he saw Alice's face "Don't judge her yeah Al? You don't know her, not properly. She's gone through a lot, yeah. So just don't." Alice just nodded; she'd take her brother's word for it. "You really do love her, don't you". Joey scowled but nodded back. "Come on, let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

They rang the doorbell. No answer. They wait. Rang it again.

"It's alright Tan. I'll get it then" Max called over his shoulder, frustrated as he opened the door and ushered them in.

"Your family. You invited them. You deal with them or why not get your wife to do it." Tanya spat out, from the kitchen.

Infuriated that Lauren had gone off with Kirsty & Max had lied about it. She'd found out from over-hearing her drunk of a daughter, telling Abi, that she should worry less, Kirsty'd looked after her. Infuriated that Max didn't seem to concern his wife was emotionally manipulating their daughter to get close to him and infuriated that this time, Lauren didn't seem to be on her side.

Joey raised an eyebrow at Max as he let Alice step in the house first. "Don't even ask" Max muttered "You alright Alice?" before turning around to call Lauren down before realising she & Abi were sat at the top of the stairs.

He smiled at them "Now that brings back some memories" Both girls laughed, but Lauren disappeared back up the stairs. "What does Uncle Max?" Alice asked, trying to break the tension. Max patted her arm, knowing she was trying to help "My girls, sat at the top of the stairs, waiting for me to come home from work. Or eavesdropping." He said as he guided Joey & Alice in to the living room where they sat down.

"You don't get anywhere in life, without listening in & paying attention to details" Abi said laughing as Lauren called down the stairs "Lesson #5 in life by Mr Jack Branning", Lauren, Max and Abi laughed.

Alice smiled "I think we're probably missing something here" Max nodded "It's a long story, I'm sure you'll hear the details at some point" he turned to Joey, "You wanting to talk to Lauren?" Joey nodded but quickly mumbled "If she still wants to hide, that's fine I guess. Just I'm here yea". Max pulled a face at Joey, but turned to call up to her "Lauren. Downstairs. 5 minutes. I will come and drag you down if you don't" She didn't reply, but they did hear movement.

"I ain't joking Lauren." "Fine, whatever. I'm coming." She called out, dragging her feet down the stairs before standing in the doorway to their living room. "What?" she wasn't looking any one in the eye. Stood with her arms tightly across her body, defensive.

"We've got guests Lauren. Don't be a brat" he warned her with his eyes. "Yeah Lauren, your boyfriend and his sister are here" Abi teased, coming to stand next to her sister. Both girls smiled, and linked pinkys.

"That's so weird" Alice said, causing Abi to stop smiling and freeze, there was an awkward silence before Lauren turned back around and ran upstairs.

Joey groaned, he knew Al hadn't meant anything by it but he hadn't yet had a chance to tell Lauren that Alice was on their side. He knew Lauren would have taken Alice's comment badly.

"Urgh. Nicely done Alice" Abi muttered, causing both Joey & Alice to look at her, him with surprise at her tone & Alice shocked that her comment caused so much drama. "Abi." Max warned, his eyes narrowing at her, warning her not to kick off.

"I'll go up and talk to her" Joey said, going to stand up. "You can't" he paused. "Can he, dad? He's officially a boyfriend now. Boyfriend's aren't allowed upstairs, are they? Your rules" Max laughed and Joey turned to look at him. "Eh. She's got a point. We've all got to get used to you two being together, and if having rules makes it easier on everyone then that's what we'll go."

Joey sat back down, torn between finding it funny he couldn't go into his girlfriend's room, happy that both Max & Abi seemed okay with the idea of them together openly and annoyed that he couldn't talk to her.

"Did you realise just ban him from following me up? After you arranged for him to be my Christmas gift and sent us upstairs together?" Lauren called down, she was back sat on the stairs. "That's so dumb"

"Don't mock me. You weren't together then, you were upset. I wanted to fix it, didn't I." Max shrugged "And I said no funny business. So no funny business happened, did it?" Lauren just laughed, Joey smiled at the sound.

"Come give me a hug" Max said with a grin. She rolled her eyes but crossed the living room, where he was and he quickly wrapped his arms around her, she groaned. "I'm not 5, you know?"

"What are you talking about? My Lauren's still a baby, playing with her dolls. She doesn't even know what sex is, do you babe?" Max said with a smirk, looking at Joey. "No Daddy." Lauren replied, laughing. "Good, good. Let's keep it that way. Don't want to know."

Lauren stayed cuddled up to her Dad, but she could feel Joey's gaze on her. She opened up one of her arms, for Abi though.

"Wait, you two were together at Christmas?" Lauren froze, both Max and Abi holding her in place.


	3. Chapter 3

"God Al, can we save the stupid questions for another day please?" Joey snapped, having seen Lauren freeze but then pause at his reaction "You told me you were fine with me and Lauren." Lauren lifted her head, away from Max, to look at Joey and Alice.

"I am. I am. I just have so many questions, and I need to get used to it" Alice said hurriedly "I swear Lauren, I'm on your side. You make him happy, so I'm happy" the girls exchanged a smile.

"Want to go tell everyone else that?" Lauren said, to which everyone laughed and Joey opened up his arms for her to step in to, which she did. "Oh I see how it is, been replaced have I?" Max called across to her teasingly. Joey laughed as she bantered with her Dad that she could love them both, but she'd love him more if he brought her shoes. He caught Alice watching them, Lauren leaning against Joey, with his arms wrapped around her, and winked. She smiled and subtly took a picture of them, mouthing "Mum" at him.

He groaned and laughed at the same time, Lauren turned around to look at him puzzled. "My phone's going to go off in 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1." And with that his phone rang and everyone laughed. He rejected the call though and told Alice to tell their mum he'd call her tomorrow & fill her in.

Max and Alice started talking to Abi about her exams as Lauren and Joey had a quiet discussion of their own "You've told your mum about me?" "About you? Yeah. About us? No but Al just took a picture" "Oh" Lauren looked worried "She's going to be happy babe" She raised an eyebrow "I ain't been like this with any other girls. You could have tentacles and I doubt she'd care" they both laughed, he leaned in to kiss her, broke away and ran his hands over her back.

"You sure you want to be touching me? You might die or be cursed or something?" Lauren muttered, not fully expecting him or anyone else to hear. "I might what?" He was confused.

"Let me guess. Dot." Her dad said, she nodded, eyes tearing up. "I'll be having words with her if she carries on then Lauren." She looked at him in surprise. "It's your life and your happiness. It's about time I help you fight to be happy" the father-daughter-duo shared a smile, their relationship already a little more stable, just with those few words.

"Reckon I need to touch you some more, work out if I've been cursed yet" Joey whispered in her ear, as she laughed. "Think it may be worth it." He said with a smirk. "Yeah?" she said looking up at her properly. He could tell the others were trying not to listen in and carry on a conversation.

"Yeah. I think you could be worth it. You know, if you stop being a drama-queen and start talking to me, not avoiding me" he teased, but he was being serious. "You can't just shut me out though babe, won't make anything better"

"I'll try. No promises. Just not used to relying on other people Joey. I do love you." He kissed her head and mouthed "love you too" as Tanya came in from the kitchen and glared at them.

"What are you planning on doing for dinner then Max? Seeing as you have invited people over, and you missed dinner because you were off with your wife and drunk of a daughter, and God knows where you were" she gestured at Abi. "Take-out sound good?" Max said, and everyone was quick to agree. Tanya just rolled her eyes and went back in the kitchen.

Everyone sat around the TV, full after dinner. Tanya had excused herself off the bed before the food had arrived.

So dinner was good. Relaxed and pretty drama free. Joey and Lauren were aware that Max, Alice Abi (and Jay who had joined them) were all trying to be subtle in them watching them. But that didn't bother either, Joey was just happy she was back talking to him and they obviously had a few people on their side.

Lauren was curled up on Joey, already half-asleep when Joey whispered in her ear "what do you reckon my chances are of sneaking into your room tonight?" she laughed as he tucked her hair behind her ear, she got cut off from replying by Alice exclaiming "oh my God. You did the hair thing. You do love her" Joey laughed "That's what I've been trying to tell you Al". She looked sheepish at her interruption but everyone just found it funny. "I think your chances are slim" she mumbled into his chest, knowing he could hear her but the others couldn't, she could see her dad watching them, making sure Joey's hands stayed where he could see them. "Doesn't mean you should try though" She smirked before standing up.

"Think I'm going to call it a night everyone, I'll see you tomorrow" she leaned down to kiss Joey, and as it got heated, pulled away. "Love you" Joey watched as she hugged Abi and Alice, laughing at Alice apologising and saying she appreciated her support, and hugged her Dad thanking him and exchanging I love you's before leaving the living room, shooting him a smirk as she left.

Damn. Now how was he going to manage to follow her?


	4. Chapter 4

Hmm. He had an idea that might just work. He felt a tad guilty even considering sneaking up to her room, knowing Max didn't want him to, after how supportive he'd been of them tonight. But he'd missed her, last time he'd spent any time with her intimately they'd been interrupted by Dot. And it wasn't like he was desperate to have sex or anything; he actually just wanted to be with her. Which he was still struggling to get used to, being this serious about a girl.

His phone vibrated on the arm of the chair, he looked up but no-one had noticed.

*Text message from Lauren* Any ideas then handsome? Or am I sleeping alone tonight...

He smirked, looked like she wanted to be with him, just as much as he wanted her. Good.

He replied, telling her his idea, he'd need her help to pull it off and there was a risk they'd be caught, but it would be worth it.

He let out a fake yawn; Max raised an eyebrow "Tired Joe?" Alice went to stand up but Joey stopped her "Nah it's alright Al, I think I'll just head back to the house and go bed. You stay, carry on watching the film" Max agreed with Joey that Alice should stay if she wanted to and they all said good-night as Joey walked out of the living room, shutting the door behind him.

He walked to the front door, opened it and called "Night all" before shutting the door heavily, making it seemed like he left. Lauren stood at the top of the stairs smirking at him; he winked and waved his arm, to tell her to carry on with his plan. This would be the tricky bit.

Lauren put her hands on her hips and started strutting down the stairs, smirking at him as Max called out to her "Lauren, babe?" "Just getting a drink before going back to bed, Dad. No worries". Alice told her she'd just missed saying bye to Joey, which both of them tried not laugh at, seeing as he was barely three steps away from her, as she was at the bottom of the stairs. Lauren said he'd texted her to say goodnight, as she walked in to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water as her excuse for being downstairs. "Night again everyone" she called out, as she came back to stand in front of Joey with her arms out. He picked her up, before carefully walking up the stairs, as light as he could so they'd think it was Lauren.

He carried into her bedroom, shutting the door before pushing her against it to kiss her. Their kisses quickly got heated, before they had to break apart to breathe properly, Lauren slid down Joey's body from where he'd still been holding her up. Her feet had barely touched the ground, before she started laughing. "I can't actually believe you just snuck into my room." She said with a grin, "my, my, what would grandma Dot say" they both laughed before freezing when they heard footsteps. Quickly Lauren ushered in to her wardrobe, before throwing herself into her bed and pulling up her covers.

Shit. Joey stayed as quiet as he could, crouched in between her shoes as someone knocked on her door. Lauren called out "what?" in a grumpy as hell voice which made Joey smirk. "Just wanted to check you were alright" Max said, putting his head around her door "it's been a rough few days", Lauren agreed with him, they exchanged a few more comments back and forth before they said their goodnights.

Joey climbed out of her wardrobe, "that was a close call" they said exchanging a look, before Lauren started laughing again. "I probably should say I should go" Joey said with a shrug, "but you're not going to?" Lauren said with a pout. He walked over, leaned down careful not to put all of his weight on her before kissing her again. She broke their kiss when she started to laugh again, he raised an eyebrow. "This position remind you of anything?" oh yeah. Other than the fact they were in a bed, and covers were separating them, they were pretty much in the same position they got caught in the other day. They shared a look, Joey reaching to tuck her hair behind her ear before leaning in for a kiss. "Lauren?" Abi called up the stairs. Joey groaned, dropping his head to her neck in frustration. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Lauren didn't seem that happy either as she replied to her sister, he started placing kisses onto her neck and sucking at the skin whilst she talked to Abi.

"Fine. Abs, fine. See you tomorrow" Lauren called down. Huh, what, Joey looked up surprised. Lauren laughed, and said that Abi was going back to Alice's to watch the sequel. Joey was only half-listening to her, looking at the mark he made on her skin, before her yawning caught his attention.

"Time for sleep I think gorgeous", she looked at him in surprise "I doubt that's what you snuck up her for" she said with a smirk, he rolled his eyes before pulling his top off. "Sleep babe. It's late, I just wanna be with you" he mumbled. Lauren grinned before leaning in to kiss him gently "You're such a sap." He shrugged and pulled off his jeans so he was just in boxers, honestly her not talking to him the last few days had been hard, he was tired of all the drama and just wanted to chill with her now. "Lucky I love you" she said, he smiled, "Yeah?" she nodded. "Guess I'm stuck with you then" she half-heartedly slapped him and stuck her bottom lip out which he bit, before muttering against her mouth in between kisses that he loved her too. They shared lazy kisses, as they got comfy and ready to sleep. "I like this" she mumbled into his chest, "hmm" he replied, already half-asleep, warm and comfortable with her curled in to him. "I like this. Being like this with you." He smiled, and kissed her forehead, still with his eyes shut though. "But when Dad asks?" she paused "Blame for you being up here... it's all you, just saying" he laughed before pulling her in close. Whatever. They can deal with that tomorrow, tonight, tonight they can just be.


End file.
